50,000 is the number of ‘green’ jobs that is frequently used as the anticipated outcome from implementing Ontario’s Green Energy Act (GEA). 50,000 is a lot of new jobs. Given the economic gloom and doom, any province would be happy with that kind of growth. So I thought it might be a good idea to see where that number comes from and if it is, in fact, an accurate prediction.

Defining a “Green Job”

To verify that number, one can either track the number of green jobs, or determine the number of new jobs created by green policy.  To do the first, it is necessary to have a standard definition of a green job.  Which, it turns out, does not really exist. Defining environmental employment is a complex undertaking.  For example, is someone who works in a steel mill doing a green job?  What if some of that steel is used for building a tower for a wind turbine?  Not so easy, eh?

Another way to see if the GEA will be an economic engine is to estimate the number of jobs likely to be created by climate change reduction policies.  In a 2009 study, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier compared the number of jobs created under the GEA vs. business as usual. Their conclusion was that the GEA would actually contribute to 90,442 total new jobs per year vs. 35,189 under the business as usual scenario.

Green Jobs on the Rise

While some of this may sound overly theoretical and is often debated in the media as a marketing ploy for the green movement, there are lots of positive, local examples of job growth spurred by green policy.  In a June, 2011 article in the Windsor Star, Time to set the record straight, Manish Nayar describes how in his group of solar companies alone, 27 new jobs have been created.  He goes on to say that the current estimate for new jobs created in the solar industry stands close to 18,000.

Manish also provides some other interesting information that strongly refutes claims that the commitment to GEA takes away from the real business of the economy.  According to Manish, the Independent Electricity System Operator paid $2.78 per kilowatt hour in June, 2011 to meet peak electricity demand.  So, in actuality, supporting renewable energy isn’t taking away from economic issues – it addresses it head on.

REDY Graduates Finding Success

I would like to share one other local story, which has to do with GLOBE’s 2011 REDY (Reducing Energy Demand with Youth) program.  Just launched this year, this green jobs program connects the dots between youth unemployment, energy retrofit work, housing and the green economy.  Of the 53 2011 REDY youth graduates, almost 90% have found at least temporary employment. That’s got to be good for the environment and economy, not to mention the REDY graduates.

So for any green sceptics out there, whether you worry or not when you see a lonely polar bear on a melting ice floe, the GEA is good for Ontario. Now, all of this does presume that the Government of Ontario stands behind its commitment to direct public dollars towards climate change solutions, including energy conservation and the transition to new skills development. Let’s hope they do.  Because after all, what could be better than policy that addresses climate change, improves the liveability of housing and generates strong, new job growth?